British weather I suppose.
Iit was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining and the seas were calm.
As we let the ropes go and headed out of the harbour we came along 5 Great Northern Divers all heading north.
A little further out we came across 10 juvenile Guillemots and 2 juvenile Puffins all feeding. As I looked at my echo meter I noticed that the water was just full of feed. This must be the reason why they are staying around the area. What's the point in leaving the area and heading out deep into the north sea when all this food is on your doorstep.
As we arrived at the islands we spotted 50+ Sooty Shearwaters flying north over Knocks Reef and on the West Wideopen we saw a Peregrine.
Now I know when the wind blows it brings the birds in but i just wish it would blow enough to let us get out to see all this. Don't get me wrong I was really enjoying this but i wish it was everyday and not once a week.
All day long we were spotting all kinds of birds. Now i'm not the best at spotting birds as I'm still learning but sometimes you just don't see them as if I'm concentrating on steering the boat and watching out for reefs and rocks I'm not bothered if I miss the odd bird. That's when my crewman comes into his own.
There he is talking to the guests one minute and the next he has spotted a Pink-footed Goose flying north.
As we dropped our customers of on Inner Farne for their one hour visit we went to the west of the island for a little fishing.
Bang - straight away he caught a mackerel. He decided to slice a bit of the fish and use it as bate to entice something else.
As I sat back in the chair with a cup of coffee I heard a shout.
"Andrew come quickly I think I have a big fish here"
I ran out onto the deck I saw his rod bending over double and I knew there and then it was a big one, and not only was it a big one it was fighting like hell.
Now what was a little bit of fishing for his tea turned out to be a battle of the big guns. Needless to say he won. As we pulled it along side the boat their she was a Tope or a Dog fish as we used to call it.
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| You Beauty |
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| OK you won |
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| There is only one winner |
As we marvelled at the size of the thing we had to let her go.
It does not end their as last week I encountered something a bit special too.
I have divers out at the Blue Caps diving with the seals when a seal came across to the boat.
As we lay there I put my hand into the water thinking that it might come across to say hello.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would but then over it came and there I was scratching it, patting it and playing with it.
Its was just like playing with a small puppy dog. Just amazing. I will have a video of it soon for everyone to enjoy.
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| Playing with the seal |
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| Having a look at the camera |
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| A bit to close to my camera thank you |
Other birds we saw today.
1 Merlin
4 Teals
10 Velvet Scoters
5 Sandwich Terns
17 Guillemots
6 Brent Goose
12 Red-throated Divers
32 Barnacle Goose
